Cesar Chavez Nonviolence To Power Analysis

Improved Essays
The civil rights movement was at its height during the 60’s. After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the people’s reaction was to turn to violence. Cesar Chavez pleads with the people to help them see that the most powerful and successful way to bring change is to use nonviolence. His use of striking diction, juxtapositions, and appeals to the fundamental beliefs of his readers leaves his audience with little doubt as to the proper course of action.
Chavez, less than 10 words into his request, has already tied “nonviolence” to “power”; thus, followed by his claims of “nonviolence provides the opportunity to stay on the offensive” gives his readers the impression that nonviolence is connected with power and importance. He gives his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Cesar Chavez is a well known activist as well as civil rights leader. In an article that he wrote devoted to those in need, he uses rhetorical strategies to develop his argument about nonviolence resistance. The terms he incorporates involves personification, alliteration, and repetition. These terms renovated this article to bring contemplation to the reader. Through his use of strategies, he starts an uprising of nonviolent resistance.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil rights advocate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the most influential African American speech activists of the 60’s. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. applied peaceful nonviolent strategies such as strikes, marches, and boycotts taught by Gandhi to protest African American civil rights. Being a powerful figure in the political and religious world Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a big target on his head and unfortunately was assassinated in 1968. This lead to many calls of violent protesting over the loss of a great leader. Ten years later on the anniversary of his death, in 1978, Cesar Chavez published an article about Dr. King's nonviolent resistance and pleads to his audience to see the reason that being violent will not promote significant change.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hardened by life as a migrant worker being discriminated and suffering corrupt labor organizations, Cesar Chavez decided to promote the most efficient strategy to revolt against the cruel conditions that labor unions bestowed upon workers - nonviolence. With the inspiration of peaceful movements in the past, the civil rights leader expressed the importance of resisting violence in order to overcome the oppression. Many may have been under the impression that Chavez’s strategy wasn’t reliable, but he was able to address their uncertainty in an article of a religious magazine through his brilliant use of compare and contrast, reference to experts, along with personal pronouns to settle the dispute of how following his nonviolent strategy is ultimately the better route to take if the farmworkers want to retrieve their deserved rights. Utilizing personal…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez a labor union organizer and civil rights activist made an article of a religious organization. This organization was established and which was devoted to helping those in need. Cesar had a valid rationalization about non-violent resistance. Chavez also uses some prime examples to get his own point across. He applies repetition, alliteration, and many other rhetorical devices and terms to the article.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who led the African-American Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, he was jailed for participating in the nonviolent campaign in Birmingham, which protested against segregation and racism. In jail, he received a smuggled newspaper that contained an open letter written by white clergymen calling the campaign “unwise and untimely”. In response, King wrote a letter to them to defend his strategy of nonviolent campaigns.…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Among some of the greatest of Chicano activists very few could hold a light to one Cesar Chavez. A man who dedicated action and sacrifice to changing and improving labor conditions for immigrant farm workers in California. Mr. Chavez was born March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona. Cesar grew up with his family working in fields as migrant workers which they ended up losing their land to a scrupulous lawyer. Very early on Cesar learned the difference between Mexicans and white people; which would follow him for many years, even throughout his school years.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 1960s many of those in need fought for liberty to end oppression in America and have equal rights. The time period of the Civil Rights Movement a leader Martin Luther King Jr. sought justice by love and nonviolent acts. After the assassination of Dr. King Jr. an activist Cesar Chavez speaks out to his audience that believes violence is the answer, and don't take violence seriously to better society's problems. In fact, Cesar wants to show it worsens the lives of many innocent people because threatened violence creates frustration on both sides. Chavez presents to his audience by proving being resistant, and not fighting back has proved to shown success.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Effect of Cesar Chavez’ farm work movement of labor, race, and immigration policies in the United States was that people found Cesar a role model and people also became fans. When the Grape and Delano March happened it was for the workers that were not getting support, so says Cesar Chavez. This was making immigrants struggle. I personally think this might have changed these citizens' lives and made them have a fair life as others that did not struggle and were not immigrants. These events took place in many areas and it drew people's attention, they soon did join to help and win these strikes.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cesar Chavez, in his essay pertaining to the Floridian farm worker’s movement for more just treatment, argues for the importance of nonviolent resistance as a civil, moral, and powerful method of promoting social change. Chavez supports his argument by illustrating the inevitable consequences of violence opposed to nonviolence and rationally explaining the effectiveness of nonviolence as a catalyst for change. The author’s purpose is to illustrate the overwhelming advantages of nonviolent resistance, as opposed to violent and destructive resistance, in order to persuade people of all wealth classes that the most civil and beneficial way to address problems in which reformation is needed, specifically the farm workers’ cause, is aggressively…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cesar Chavez expresses his respectful tone toward MLK in this article published within a religious magazine. Cesar Chavez's article in regards to the 10 year anniversary of MLK's death, he advances his opinion towards nonviolence by using rhetorical appeals as well as parallel sentence structure and repetition. Throughout the article there is an abundance of appeals to pathos and logos. For example, in lines 20 and 21 " there will be total demoralization of the workers.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cesar Chavez Thesis

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Cesar Chavez was a profoundly excellent leader that changed the lives of thousands of immigrant mexican labor workers. Labor Unions have been a fundamental part in the lives of labor workers all throughout history and in these groups the marginalized people experienced patterns of exploitation and discrimination. The businesses increase their profits by over working and not providing basic labor rights to the mexican workers. Chavez used his own personal experiences to empathize with the workers and he stayed committed to society. He believed in better working conditions for the farmworkers and stood up for them as shown when he started huge protests to get to his goal.…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Violence, a leader of destruction, is never the route to take, no matter the conflict. Conversely, nonviolence is the true powerhouse of success. On the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, a civil rights activist, constructed an article portraying the ambitious effects of nonviolent resistance. Regarded to successfully project the importance of nonviolent responses to a religious and needful crowd, he establishes his argument through seriousness, positivity, and a generous amount of advice. In order to thoroughly convey nonviolent resistance, Chavez evokes heart-pounding diction and juxtaposition.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Timeless Cruelty “People speak sometimes about the bestial cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.” Claims Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. On April 16, 1963, a letter was written to the clergy to alert them of what great injustices were taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a letter that illustrates oppression being a large battle fought in this generation and location. In different ways, Dr. King describes how to dismantle the walls of segregation portrayed with literary devices such as words with strong diction, parallelism, and juxtaposition.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through nonviolent protest, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s achieved the most important breakthrough in equal rights legislation and fought against racial discrimination. Ten years subsequent to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and in a form of honor, Cesar Chavez, a labor union organizer and civil rights leader, delivered his speech in 1978, “He Showed Us The Way,” in time where equality for African-Americans was overlooked. Due to a rise of hatred and conflict between those who fought for civil rights and the government, Chavez attempts to prove that nonviolence is the better alternative compared to violence in resolving conflicts. Chavez makes it appear that nonviolence triumphs violence and leaves little to no doubt…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his speech, King recognizes the violent measures being brought upon the African Americans- churches being bombed, voters being murdered, snarling dogs. He uses this violence in his speech, not to praise it, but to stand up against it. King realizes the grief and strife violence is bringing upon, not only his people, but all people. Another way King uses violence to advocate for nonviolence is when he claims, “…nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time…” In saying this, King acknowledges the urgency of replacing violence with nonviolence to solve society’s contradictions.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays